About IDC

IDC's methodology for ranking financial institutions for safety is an open platform, allowing banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and any client to understand financial ratios and rank for a specific institution. The staff is open to discussion of ratios and rank to account for special circumstances of your financial institution.

The CAMEL System

Capital Adequacy

Capital risk is determined by Tier I capital as a percent of assets and as a percent of risk-based assets. Tier I & II capital as a percent of risk-based assets (risk-based capital ratios) measures credit and interest rate risk as well as estimates risk in the asset base.

Asset Quality

Adequacy of Capital and reserves measures the levels of delinquent loans, nonaccrual loans, restructured and foreclosed assets relative to loan loss reserves and Tier I capital. Risk-adjusted assets as part of the risk-based capital ratio further define the quality of assets.

Margins

Margins are the best measurement of management's financial controls. Margins represent the spreads between (1) the return on equity compared to estimated cost of equity capital, (2) interest income versus cost of funding, and (3) operating profit and net operating revenues.

Earnings Returns

Earning returns measure the success of the operating strategy. Revenue yields from investments, loans, and noninterest income with comparison to operating costs are the major components of the net operating after-tax return on earning assets (ROEA). Return on financial leverage (ROFL) measures the level of leverage and after-tax cost of funding compared to the after-tax return on earning assets (ROEA).

Bank Rating Services

Founded in 1985 by John E. Rickmeier, President, IDC is the industry standard for rating financial institutions, which issue brokered certificates of deposit. IDC's proprietary "CAMEL" analysis assesses the overall safety and soundness of over 12,000 financial institutions each quarter. The bank rating methodology of analyzing 24 key financial ratios provides a one-number IDC quality rank from 1 (the lowest) to 300 (the highest) for each institution reporting to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). The bank safety ratings fall into one of six peer group categories: Superior, Excellent, Average, Below Average, Lowest Ratios, and Rank of One.